Best PlacesButler, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Butler, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Butler ranks 46,607th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Butler
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Butler's strengths and weaknesses
Where Butler ranks high
- Cheap childcare$412 a month, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
Where Butler ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Household income$49,433 median, better than only 12% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Butler
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Butler home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,433, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Butler's effective rate of 0.80%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Butler
Butler's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Butler.
Who works in Butler, and how
Work in Butler centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Butler
Butler has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Butler and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Butler, month by month
Butler sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Butler
Kansas City International sits about 75 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Butler
Schools across Butler average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hudson Elem.A · 65% proficient
- Adrian Elem.B− · 43% proficient
- Ballard Elem.C+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Rich Hill HighB− · 43% proficient
- Butler HighC · 31% proficient
- Ballard HighD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Butler school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Butler measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Butler against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Butler
Is Butler a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Butler ranks 46,607th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and biking, and lowest on health outcomes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Butler expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $185,523. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $49,433 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Butler safe?
Butler is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $795 per resident a year.
Compare Butler with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Butler. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Butler represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Butler detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Butler: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Butler: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Butler: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Butler: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Butler detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.